The Miami Gardens Police Department is facing racial profiling charges after officers allegedly questioned the same man 258 times and repeatedly arrested him for trespassing at the convenience store where he is an employee.

Earl Sampson, 28, says he has been questioned 258 times, searched more than 100 times, jailed 56 times and arrested for trespassing 62 times. The majority of the citations reputedly occurred at the store where he works.

ďAt least once a week for the last four years, Earl Sampson, 28, has been stopped by Miami Gardens police,Ē records show, the New York Daily News reported.

The only conviction on the manís record is for marijuana possession, the report adds.

In the city of Miami Gardens, outside of Miami, FL, the police use aggressive campaigns of stop-and-frisk and absurd arrests to bolster their records, to the great detriment of the African-American majority who live there. For example, a young man named Earl Sampson has been stopped by Miami Gardens police 258 times; they've searched him more than 100 times; and they've arrested him for trespassing 56 times. He's never been convicted of anything apart from simple possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Sampson's trespassing arrests occurred at his place of work, a convenience store called the 207 Quickstop; Sampson was repeatedly arrested for trespassing there, over the loud objections of his employer, Alex Saleh, who owns the store, and who explained to police that Sampson was not trespassing in his store.

When Saleh gathered video evidence that showed the police had falsified their arrest reports and violated the rights of his customers, he was targeted for police harassment, including falsified vehicle stops and personal threats. Saleh is suing for federal civil rights violations, alleging that Miami Gardens police "routinely, under the direction of the cityís top leaders, directed its officers to conduct racial profiling, illegal stops and searches and other activities to cover up illegal misconduct."
Saleh, whose store is tucked between a public park and working-class neighborhoods, contends that Miami Gardens police officers have repeatedly used racial slurs to refer to his customers and treat most of them like they are hardened criminals.

ďPolice line them up and tell them to put their hands against the wall. I started asking myself ĎIs this normal?í I just kept thinking police canít do this,íí Saleh said.

Last year, Saleh, armed with a cache of videos, filed an internal affairs complaint about the arrests at his store. From that point, he said, police officers became even more aggressive.

One evening, shortly after he had complained a second time, a squadron of six uniformed Miami Gardens police officers marched into the store, he says. They lined up, shoulder to shoulder, their arms crossed in front of them, blocking two grocery aisles.

ďCan I help you?Ē Saleh recalls asking. It was an entire police detail, known as the departmentís Rapid Action Deployment (RAD) squad, whom he had come to know from their frequent arrest sweeps. One went to use the restroom, and five of them stood silently for a full 10 minutes. Then they all marched out.

This is often what happens when the law and order folks make the bazzarre anti crime
laws to clamp down. Or they devise a quota system so the police activity can be then
measured to some standard.
It is no longer even profiling its just a numbers game. It should not be about race or quotas
or anything else it should be about genuine law enforcement and all too often it takes a
back seat to reality. I hope this guy sues their fannies off

I have no illusions that our RCMP are perfect by any means, but, local police forces breed such abuse and corruption that it's staggering. The 'cover for your buddy' mentality is terrifying, and at least with a federal police force, there is less personal drive to cover for one another.

Not surprised. My ex-brother-in-law told me how he'd been stopped by the same police officer a few times until he'd addressed the office by name one day and asked his police ID. The officer left him alone after that.

My ex-uncle-in-law told me once how whenever he drove his car wearing a baseball cap, guaranteed he'd be pulled over. he may have been exaggerating, but it still gives an idea of how bad it was. Another ex-brother-in-law started getting stopped by police the moment he started growing dreadlocks. They never grew to more than an inch before he gave up and chopped them off.

The first brother-in-law mentioned above was told an apartment was not available. He was suspicious becauseit was advertized just that morning. he asked me to check, and sure enough it was available. The ex-uncle-in-law mentioned above once was told a job advertized just that morning was taken. Suspicious, he got a white friend to apply, and sure enough, it was still available.

My ex was once told by a government official that she must be lying about having been in Canada less than three months because her French and English were too good. She explained she had gone to a private French lycee in Addis Ababa but they did not believe her until her lawyer stepped in. Only then did they back down.

All of this is the experience shared with me by one family. Now immagine what many families must go through on a regular basis across Canada. Some of the experiences above took place in Victoria, one in Vancouver, one in Kitchener-Waterloo, and one in Montreal. So this is across Canada. Then we can immagine non-white Canadians may be poorer on average. They have way fewer opportunities owing to discrimination.

This sounds like more than racial profiling...this sounds like an attempt to drive 'low income' neighbourhood business away from the bordering 'high income' neighbourhood. It's almost like racial 'herding'.... keep away from this area or you'll be harassed.

Does racial profiling occur that should not- Yes- and I have no time for that.
Officers patrolling a beat- know their area - know who is and who is not an issue of concern.
Do some abuse it - of course.

Disgusting doesn't even say it all! I hope he sues the pants off them!

JMO

Oh, by the way, gopher, I'm a Conservative!!

Good for you. So rare to see "conservatives" employ some principle in their ideas unlike the right wing delusionals in this forum.

Quote: Originally Posted by WLDB

ha. Start shooting at the cops and see what happens. It never goes over well for the shooter.

Many years ago the fukkin cops harassed my friends in AIM in South Dakota. When my friends started to swing back the cops produced guns and threatened to arrest them. Then, my friends decided they had enough and produced their own weapons, some of which had much higher calibers than the cops' weapons. That stopped all that shtt real fast.

This is the type of corrective action society needs instead of the broken record shtt the right wind delusional spews about 2d Amendment rights that (in their twisted minds) only apply to them and nobody else.